That sucks. I wonder then, what my options are, once I move to Canada and have large sums of money floating in Neteller? For obvious reasons, I'm trying not to leave to much of my BR on Full Tilt at the moment, so the idea of depositing a ton on a poker site doesn't really appeal to me.

Also, I am not sure if Neteller with withdraw to my Korean bank account, or how long it would take them to do so.

I guess I could deposit on stars and give them enough action to let me withdraw again, then withdraw to a Canadian account.

Hmmm. Looks like this may turn into a mess. Hopefully FT will have stuff sorted out enough by September that I'm comfortable leaving five figures on there, but I doubt it.

Get a Neteller ATM card?
Or put it back on the site then withdraw to Moneybookers.


I think Neteller will lock your account if you try to access it from a restricted country, so do whatever you're going to do before you leave.

I'm also interested in this, as well as what the pro/cons are for moneybookers and neteller, and maybe any fees/currency conversion

are wires and checks just not possible in foreign countries? Why even use the middleman?

Its been sooooo long since Ive been able to do anything else that I really dont even remember why I used neteller in the first place back in the day

Can any American who opened a Canadian bank account please walk me through the steps you took to get the account? Thanks so much!

Go to bank, have two forms of id, sign up for accounts, done. Probably want an address too but they don't verify.

Neteller was free, money gets deducted for wire? Probably not a bad option now if allowed, especially for large amounts if you can wire from poker account >>> to your Canadian USD account and again wire >>> US bank account.

Anyone tried a poker wire >> Canadian USD account yet?

Using banks for any sort of gambling transaction is illegal in South Korea, much like the UIGEA in the USA. The main difference is that the sites don't bother with semi-legal workarounds, so you're forced to use e-wallets. (I'm not sure why e-wallets are legal but e-checks aren't, but there you have it.)

My intent was just to let the extra cash hang out in an e-wallet until I moved to Canada, where I could start using e-checks again. (My Korean sucks, and giant white guys attract attention, it once took me over an hour and two supervisors watching everything for me to get a simple bank statement.)

I wanted to use the e-wallet option because I'm not comfortable leaving large sums of money on Full Tilt at the moment, and my options were Moneybookers and Neteller. FT is having issues with Moneybookers as well, so my options were left with Neteller and a paper check, which probably has no chance of getting cashed in Korea.

But Neteller apparently doesn't work in Canada, so the end result appears to be that I either have to trust FT with a lot of money or leave it out in limbo.

Maybe I'll end up depositing it on stars and giving them enough action that they'll let me cash it out.

I tried a wire in South Korea and was told by FT that they were temporarily disabled.

Neteller doesn't work in Canada because that's where the owners were arrested IIRC. The Canadians were apparently pissed about the whole thing just like the Americans, I guess.

Then again, why the f would you play on FTP?

Some (not all) Canadian banks allow their Visa cards to access poker sites. I have one that I use exclusively for that purpose. I usually carry a positive balance on it, and it serves as an online wallet. The only downside is that I get charged a $5 fee for a deposit to a poker site (because it's treated as a cash advance, not as a charge for a purchase).

Yeah, my wife plays a bit too, and she uses her credit card to deposit and withdraw (she's from Canada, unfortunately I am not, so I don't have a Canadian address/credit card set up yet).

I can't wait to get to Canada where I'll have plenty of cashout options... the trouble is what to do in the meantime.


Not really the thread for it, but briefly: I make buckets of money there, so if they do cash out, yay me, and (more importantly) FTP quickly and efficiently processed my address change with just a few documents, meanwhile, I am still locked out on stars, and getting the runaround.

So far I've submitted two pieces of photo ID, a phone number, an internet bill, two bank statements, and answered a phone call and two e-mails asking for very detailed information about my previous activity. Then, just a few hours ago (after waiting almost a week) they asked me for a copy of my US passport (which they already have on file).

In the event that Pokerstars is at all similar to FTP in terms of profitability, I will move my play there. I've always preferred stars over tilt. But, as they say, I've got bills to pay, and apparently I'm not a very high priority customer for Pokerstars.

All that said, I have no problem playing on Full Tilt, provided the process my post-BF cashouts in a semi-timely manner. I've always gotten good service from their customer support (I feel like I'm the only one, given the tone on this board) and gotten reliable cashouts (again, all their support must just watch my account, because everyone else seems to have trouble). When that stops being the case, they'll stop getting my action. Until then, I will play where it's profitable.

Can anyone please confirm if Canadian players are able to get wires done?

Yes if u want US$....if u want CAD$ ..I requested a check for $1k CAD$ and had it fed-exed and in my hand within 2 busines days. The check was drawn on a Canadian bank so the hold was only 5 days.

Yes ....stars>Moneybookers>bank wire> USD checking account (at Canadian bank)

Can you cashout from ftp to moneybookers? Anyone done that lately?

So has anyone actually relocated from the US and started playing in another country? (excluding canada...dont want to go there)

I am considering moving to another country and trying to figure out where to go and what I would need to do...

read through this thread and came to the conclusion that somewhere like costa rica would work...but people said it was tough to open a bank account. If I can't open a bank account in a foreign country how can I deposit/cash out??

Can I just use like neteller or something?


Would love to hear any advice...esp from anyone who has already made the move.

I was thinking about Costa Rica as well, but I changed my mind. I need to live somewhere where I speak the language. I have also heard the CR banks are tough to deal with and not easy to open.

What other places have you looked at?

So is it impossible to go somewhere else and play without a bank account...can you use neteller or something like that?

You must have a bank account. Im going to Canada.

Anyone move or planning to move to around the Niagra Falls area or Windsor, ON? Those are probably where I am looking at right now.

Also anyone have a spot in a house open? If so where are u located?

For those who have successfully made it into Canada, what's the longest you're being allowed to stay in the country before having to leave?

This is what I'm trying to figure out as well. I've been doing some research in the past month or so trying to find a first world type country that would allow self-employed Americans to stay for a year (possibly more). I know a lot of grinders have moved to Thailand, Costa Rica, or Panama, but those are a last resort for me. As for Europe, I think Estonia or Croatia might be options, I think I found a bit of info on an official Estonia page that makes it sound like there's a provision for allowing residency to aliens who can display the financial ability to care for themselves for the duration of their stay (and the requirement doesn't seem that high), and especially for Americans or Japanese nationals as they don't count against their immigration quotas. Of course there's Malta, but they suspended their residency program a little bit ago making it harder in the short term. I have heard New Zealand might be an option, but haven't looked into that too closely.

I would be very interested in hearing if any Americans have successfully transitioned to Europe with the intentions of staying over a year.

sigh. It's been 9 days since my phone call from stars. I was told 24-48 hours like everyone else. Granted, I haven't put much volume this year on stars but I've made Supernova for the last 3 years. All my documentation was good. Anyone else been waiting this long?

Yup. Been waiting 8-9 days since phone call as well. After phone call, I have gotten two more e-mails asking even more account related questions, and a third e-mail requesting a copy of my US passport (a document they already have on file, and which marks the third piece of photo ID I've sent them).

Not that they care or even read these threads, but I've paid no less than $2,500 in rake to Full Tilt while waiting for my Pokerstars approval. If I had been on stars, they could have gotten all that from me and more.

They have delays, I understand that. It doesn't bother me much (as long as FT doesn't stiff me on what I've made, heh), it's just costing them money.

You can stay 6 months out of any 12 month period (leaving then returning does not reset the clock).